Revealed! Paul Weller, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jack White and Neil Young in the new Uncut

There’s plenty to shout about in the new UNCUT, which goes on sale this Friday, May 23. First of all, we have an exclusive new interview with PAUL WELLER, as he prepares for the release of MORE MODERN CLASSICS, a compilation drawing on tracks from the last 15 years of his illustrious career, a period during which his music has become increasingly more adventurous and unpredictable.

There’s plenty to shout about in the new UNCUT, which goes on sale this Friday, May 23. First of all, we have an exclusive new interview with PAUL WELLER, as he prepares for the release of MORE MODERN CLASSICS, a compilation drawing on tracks from the last 15 years of his illustrious career, a period during which his music has become increasingly more adventurous and unpredictable.

Most artists would probably have taken the release of such a retrospective as an opportunity to reflect nostalgically on past achievements. But Weller as he’s got older seems ever more restless and less inclined to look back when looking forward he currently has so much more to offer. Not long after he recently met Uncut and said what he had to say – about how the record business has changed and not always in good ways, the redundancy of box sets, politics, The Jam, the sci-fi memoir he may or may not be writing and his enduring love of making music – he was sitting in his car, giving us an exclusive preview of three new tracks he’s been working on.

Next up, there’s BOB DYLAN. In the first of a major two-part look at what in many respects turned out to be the weirdest and most controversial decade in his career, many of his old collaborators reconsider Dylan’s 1980s, a time during which he embraced apocalyptic Christianity and otherwise saw his popularity and critical standing reduced to almost nothing, and discover a trove of neglected music.

Elsewhere, let’s hear it for country legend DOLLY PARTON, who we meet in Nashville, and the great New Orleans pianist, arranger, songwriter and producer, ALLEN TOUSSAINT, who was interviewed by Richard Williams during a recent residency at Ronnie Scott’s.

In particularly exciting news, CLIFF RICHARD was persuaded to contribute to this month’s issue and talks about the making of “Apache” by THE SHADOWS, whose guitarists HANK MARVIN and BRUCE WELCH are also on hand with their memories of recording this landmark track in British rock music.

In our regular Album By Album feature, BLACK SABBATH – that is, OZZY OSBOURNE, TONY IOMMI and GEEZER BUTLER – talk us through their greatest albums, while Hollywood actor and general all round dude HARRY DEAN STANTON answers your questions in An Audience With and the redoubtable SHARON VAN ETTEN appears in My Life In Music.

Across 40 pages of reviews, meanwhile, you can read about new albums from JACK WHITE, NEIL YOUNG, DAVE and PHIL ALVIN, FIRST AID KIT, THE FELICE BROTHERS,, BOB MOULD and CONOR OBERST, plus major reissues from LED ZEPPELIN, MOGWAI and MORISSEY. There’s also a report from THE GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL, where the Uncut stage hosted performances from THE HOLD STEADY, COURTNEY BARRETT, ETHAN JOHNS and TRANS.

There’s quite a bit to yell about there, I think. Enjoy the issue. And if you’ve got anything you want to say about it, don’t forget to give me a shout. You can reach me at allan_jones@ipcmedia.com.